WyoPreps Details Changes for the 2026-27 High School Sports Year

A new high school sports year is here. The 2026-27 calendar started on Monday with practice for all golf and tennis programs, and 4A football teams in Wyoming. There are several changes fans need to be aware of as we start a new high school sports year. WyoPreps is detailing these changes that impact most sports for the new school year. This does not impact football. That is a separate story.

WYOPREPS PROVIDES A RUNDOWN OF ALL THE 2026-27 SPORTS CHANGES

The first changes deal with which schools are in which classes. Forget the enrollment cut-offs. Those no longer exist. Wyoming is back to balanced classifications across the board. There are 16 schools in Class 4A, 16 in Class 3A, 18 in Class 2A, and 20 in Class 1A. Here are the schools moving to a new class for the next 2 years.

Cody = 4A

Tongue River = 3A

Lingle-Ft. Laramie = 2A

Saratoga = 2A

Lusk = 2A

Fort Washakie = 2A

Southeast = 2A

What does this impact? All seven of these schools move up to a new class in basketball, outdoor track and field, and volleyball.

Cody also moves up to 4A in cross country, golf, indoor track, soccer, swimming and diving, and wrestling. Tongue River rises to 3A in cross country, golf, and wrestling.

Changes to the Standings

The volleyball and basketball conference standings will vary by class during the 2026 and 2027 seasons.

Class 4A is going back to quads for conference standings. You will play the other three teams in your quad two times, home and away, and those are the only matches that count toward your conference record. Teams will play cross-quad matches against opponents from the same region once, so Northwest faces Southwest and Northeast plays Southeast, but those do not count in the league standings. They only matter as a tiebreaker within the conference seeding at regional tournaments.

Class 3A will count volleyball and basketball as 1-8 seeds in East and West regions. Teams will play their quadrant opponents twice, home and away, and cross-quad once, but those four will count in the conference standings. That means each school will play 10 league matches/games.

Classes 2A and 1A will also play conference matches within their quadrants. Cross-over matches/games do not count in the league standings.

Teams Changing Conferences

With all of the new schools in different classes, plus new teams playing at the varsity level in 2026, some schools have shuffled to a new conference quadrant.

The Casper schools are splitting east and west on a two-year rotation. Natrona County will be in the Northwest, and Kelly Walsh is in the Northeast for 2026-27 and 2027-28.

Cody will be in the 4A Northwest.

With Tongue River joining the 3A Northeast, that moves Rawlins to the 3A Southwest and Lander to the 3A Northwest.

Saratoga and Fort Washakie move to the 2A Southwest. That pushes Wind River to the 2A Northwest. The 2A Southeast will have Lingle-Ft. Laramie, Lusk, and Southeast moving into its conference quadrant.

In 1A, Arapaho Charter and Casper Christian will compete at the varsity level for the first time this fall. Arapaho Charter will be in the Southwest Quad. St. Stephens moves to the Southwest, as well. Casper Christian will be in the 1A Southeast Conference. Encampment will move to that same league.

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Here are the conference breakdowns, especially for volleyball & basketball

4A NW = Cody, Jackson, Natrona County, Riverton.

4A SW = Evanston, Green River, Rock Springs, Star Valley.

4A NE = Campbell County, Kelly Walsh, Sheridan, Thunder Basin.

4A SE = Cheyenne Central, Cheyenne East, Cheyenne South, Laramie.

3A NW = Lander, Lovell, Powell, Worland.

3A SW = Lyman, Mountain View, Pinedale, Rawlins.

3A NE = Buffalo, Douglas, Newcastle, Tongue River.

3A SE = Burns, Glenrock, Torrington, Wheatland.

2A NW = Greybull, Rocky Mountain, Shoshoni, Thermopolis, Wind River.

2A SW = Big Piney, Kemmerer, Ft. Washakie, Saratoga, Wyoming Indian.

2A NE = Big Horn, Moorcroft, Sundance, Wright.

2A SE = Lingle-Ft. Laramie, Lusk, Pine Bluffs, Southeast.

1A NW = Burlington, Dubois, Meeteetse, Riverside; Ten Sleep will not field a team in 2026.

1A SW = Arapaho Charter, Cokeville, Farson-Eden, Little Snake River, St. Stephens.

1A NE = Arvada-Clearmont, Hulett, Kaycee, Midwest, Upton.

1A SE = Casper Christian, Encampment, Guernsey-Sunrise, H.E.M., Rock River.

Other Sport Changes

With Cody moving into Class 4A in all sports, it means 15 schools will compete in 4A for both boys and girls swimming and diving. The other nine schools will be in Class 3A.

Cross Country and Golf will have the top 16 schools in 4A, the next 16 in 3A, and the rest will be in 2A.

For wrestling, KW will be in the 4A East, while NC and Cody are in the 4A West. In 3A, Rawlins shifts to the West Region, and Tongue River joins the East Region. As in the past, any other school participating in wrestling will be 2A.

Girls’ wrestling will split into two regionals again, and schools will be in the same regional as their boys.

Indoor track will have the top 16 in 4A, with the rest of the schools comprising Class 3A.

In soccer, Class 4A will not have regionals in the spring 2027 season. Only the top four teams in each conference will advance to the state tournament. This is similar to what 3A has done for several years.

Cody joins Evanston, Green River, Jackson, NC, Riverton, Rock Springs, and Star Valley in the 4A West Conference for soccer. The 4A East will be Campbell County, Central, East, KW, Laramie, Sheridan, South, and Thunder Basin.

In 3A, it’s Lander, Lyman, Mountain View, Pinedale, Powell, and Worland in the 3A West Conference. The 3A East will be Buffalo, Douglas, Newcastle, Rawlins, and Torrington.

Finally, the only change in softball is that Lander moves up to the varsity level starting in the spring 2027 season, replacing Worland. The Tigers will compete in the North Conference.

We hope this helps you!

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